1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cradle for a digital camera, and in particular to a structure of a cradle suitable for a digital camera having a communication function with an external device such as a personal computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Utility Model Application Publication No. 6-44050 discloses a connection structure between a first electronic instrument such as a cellular phone and a second electronic instrument corresponding to its cradle. Not limited to the cellular phone, but also in the field of digital still camera, the system in which a cradle is used to charge a battery of a digital camera or perform data communication with an external device such as a personal computer is known.
In many cases, the cradle for the digital camera is mainly used in the following two ways. The first one is, as shown in FIG. 9, to place a cradle 104 at a position near an external device such as a personal computer (PC) 100, for example, on a desk 102 for performing communication between the personal computer 100 and a camera 106 through the cradle 104. The second one is to use the camera 106 as a PC camera for image inputting while the camera 106 is being mounted on the cradle 104.
However, in any of the use patterns described above, the camera attitude depends on the main body of the cradle, and therefore, there is little flexibility in the camera angle, thus causing inconveniences.